| dc.description.abstract | In Kenya, about 80,000 dairy goats are reared and about eighty percent of these are reared in Mt Kenya
Region. They provide a quick source of milk for consumption or sale and are thus of immense value
especially to poor households. The fact that they can be reared in small land holdings is especially
useful in these highly populated areas. Although there has been a lot of research on problems faced by
dairy cattle farmers, there has been little on problems faced by dairy goat farmers. In a cross-sectional
survey, one hundred farmers were interviwed on major constraints and 100 milk samples obtained
and analyzed. The main problems were lack of market of milk and goats, problems of buck rotation,
unavailability of commercial feeds formulated for dairy goats and poor group dynamics. The main
health problems are pneumonia, mastitis, stunted growth, and diarhoea The main pathogens from
milk samples were Gram positive, cogaulase posistve and negative staphylococcus. Others were
streptococcus spp and actinomycdes spp. Further investigation is underway but indications are that
coping stragies including farmer awareness, treatment and control measures need to be developed in
order to enhance the productivity of goats in the region | en_US |
